CORTESE TAKES 8TH PODIUM IN 9 ROUNDS OF MOTO3 GP

15.07.2012
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Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Sandro Cortese underlined his role as ‘Mr. Consistency’ on the Mugello circuit on Sunday finishing third in the Moto3 Grand Prix of Italy to take his eighth podium in nine rounds. The German rider retains the championship lead ahead of today’s winner Maverick Vinales of Spain.

The race started with a flash of brilliance from KTM’s Malaysian rider Zulfahmi Khairuddin who shot into the lead and managed to hold onto it for the opening laps before relinquishing it to the more aggressive riders. Cortese and his teammate Danny Kent of Britain, both on the KTM Moto3 factory bike also sent an early signal about their intentions and were well in the mix in the opening laps. Kent managed to survive a close encounter with Italian rider Antonelli and stayed well in the race while the third member of the Red Bull KTM Ajo team, Arthur Sissis had to retire with technical problems after twice setting fastest lap mid race from about place 10-11.

Tactics and especially slipstream manoevers have evolved as crucial for this new class of racing and Cortese has proved himself to be up with the best. The race could have gone any way in the final shakeout but the young Italian rider Fenati was particularly hungry in front of his home crowd and managed to prevail over the KTM rider as the front three rushed the finish line. Just seven hundredths of a second separated first and third place. Cortese still leads the championship but he remains most threatened by today’s winner, the Spanish rider Vinales.